foolin’ around
April 1, 2016 § 2 Comments
I’ve been playing at April Fools since my daughter was a toddler; a whim turned tradition and the one day a year my children expect me to be purely foolish. For all the days I mask a smile at their mischief, it has become an excuse for me to play at foolery.
The first year it was a savory meatloaf shaped into a curious cake with tinted mashed potatoes and a catsup smile. Subsequent years the surprises were only sweet; there was a frozen kid’s meal replaced with faux fish sticks and the year I splurged on chop sticks for candy sushi (the kids’ favorite), grilled cheese that you couldn’t tell was an imposter and an unfortunate lasagna that photographed better than it tasted.
Over the years April Fools have evolved to accommodate early morning surprises, juice that was jello or spoons frozen in a cold bowl of cereal. There was the time my husband “surprised” me with iced coffee in a warm to-go cup and I, to my daughter’s delight, masterfully spit the contents in an unladylike fashion.
This morning my sleepy (unsuspecting) teen and preteen woke to cereal in a (sanitized) dog bowl and snacks shaped like bones.
The day is not done and we’ve one meal to go; I’m working on a cookie pizza for dinner.
Wishing everyone sweet surprises and frivolous fun!
making space
October 14, 2015 § 6 Comments
Prior to our move I cursed lost storage given to unwanted wedding gifts. Kitchen and dining room doors and drawers consumed with an outdated extravagance that sat unused for want of an occasion. Rows of crystal and china canvased in dust; a page torn from someone else’s great expectations.
My husband and I did not choose a wedding or the responsibility of begging gifts that did not suit our wants. We begrudgingly acknowledged my in-laws’ requests for ceremony and accordingly registered for traditional items out of respect for their ideals. Simple and unpretentious in our needs, these gifts felt false hidden in plain sight behind the doors of our daily routines.
As we prepared to move I considered selling these objects at a loss, just to be free of their cumbersome bulk. I engaged multiple buyers in genuine invitations to purchase old patterns hoping to ease our move. I set goals that each corner of our new home would be limited to a functional beauty unhindered by unused objects.
Then, I did something I might never have predicted given fifteen years of rambling diatribes against the frivolousness of these objects. Yesterday I unpacked each piece and placed them in a new corner of our lives.
Front and center, in a bookcase of glass and pine, I stacked plates beside rows of crystal for a new expectation. Tea with my daughter and Sunday dinners, family holidays and daily decoration. Marveling at the simplicity of their elegance against the humble lines of unpolished wood shelves, it seemed remarkable that these same pieces had been so long untended.
Distractedly I let myself remember the day my fingers first traced the pattern around so many choices and childhood afternoons past at my grandmother’s kitchen table; recalling intuitive moments of aesthetic appreciation for something intimately known. Fleeting moments of forgotten daydreams and dress up without the pretentiousness of pretending a grander purpose.
I let go of the formality of someone else’s expectations and started creating a simpler dream for beautiful pieces; making space in our lives for something old and something new.
lemonade
April 23, 2011 § Leave a comment
Cold symptoms and grey, rainy days cast a shadow across Easter weekend; Spring felt misplaced. Determined to embrace the extra time and celebrate childhood traditions, I gathered my lemons and made lemonade.
Outdoor egg hunts and time with friends canceled, my family refocused our energy indoors on quiet, creative endeavors. An Easter diorama, a project inspired by a neighborhood gathering with friends, became a happy distraction. Construction paper and confectionary figures wove fictional story lines within the confines of a child size shoebox. Later, vinegar scented cups of egg dye captured our imaginations as we absorbed the task of filling in the space of nature’s blank canvas.
Tomorrow my children will wake eager to discover baskets with simple treats before we settle around a table for brunch. I cherish the new moments as they cross paths with old memories in the footsteps of tradition.
nonsense
March 12, 2011 § 1 Comment
Most days my world echos the hazy, transient space of a dream moments before consciousness. Like Alice, having fallen through the rabbit hole, my responsibilities tower precariously around me making me feel small and lost. I wander through my day absorbed in discovery and chasing after an ideal.
Housekeeping and meal planning, parent organizations and children’s activities are a never-ending tea party. I return to the table each day a guest of routine. I marvel at the limitlessness of motherhood, each moment of our days precariously tied to the promise of empowering confident, capable children through the riddle of simple tasks familiar across generations.
I squeeze myself into moments steeped in tradition, like unfamiliar games whose rules have been replaced with unwritten expectations. I stumble into awareness, reveling in discovery as new questions emerge.
Responsibility follows me like a grinning cat perched in amusement over my curious fumbling. I wonder if my mother and grandmothers felt lost or overwhelmed. I welcome each new mother I meet to this place of beautiful nonsense where almost everything means something, some things nothing, and others everything.
scribblechic 